"Midnight... it's in your hands now…"
Laura heard the man's words. Jura had beaten Brain in their fight. She saw Lyla for a moment before she teleported. She still lay on the ground, waking up after the fire.
So far she knew that her allies on Nirvana were still alive, all Oracion Seis members were beaten except for Midnight, and both Lyla and Laura discovered something about their magic. Laura had the same ability as Cobra that let her hear someone's thoughts, but she couldn't use it at will. And Lyla would absorb magical power to regain energy. It would have been useful for both of them to have learned this years ago.
Laura heard grumbling and aching. Natsu didn't lie on the ground too far from her. His motion sickness could get annoying real quick…
"Guys, please… stop this thing." He begged while trying not to puke.
"Oh, you poor man. Have you been poisoned?" Wendy asked. Laura found it comical, though she did not laugh as she lifted herself from the ground. Blood beat in the back of her neck as it rushed to her head, which made even the color black hurt her eyes. Side effects to mind reading? How did Cobra deal with this?
"Hey, why didn't this thing stop?" Gray asked. Everyone looked around. They defeated Brain, but Nirvana kept moving. It would have been enjoyable to pummel the old man…
"Do you think there's a control panel at the tower?" Lucy suggested. She, Gray, Jura, Wendy, Carla, and Happy all agreed that might be the case. Laura kept silent and followed them. Happy carried Natsu since he would be out of commission until they could find a way to stop the machine.
The group made their way through the city and to the top of the tallest tower. Some miracle had been performed to keep the fossil standing. Based off of the crumbling pillars and no roof, the thing most likely used to be taller. It might topple over while they stood on it, looking for a way to shut it down.
Still nothing. Only decaying stone. Laura sat down cross-legged and massaged her head. That even put too much pressure, so she stopped and instead tried breathing in the rich forest air.
It helped some, but she would need a cure, or sleep. Both would be nice. Maybe one of Wendy's healing spells would work? The small girl could heal a bad ear, surely she could heal a headache?
"YEAHEAAAAH! I'M BAAAACK!" Natsu's joyful cry made Laura flinch and cover her ears. The headache became so much worse. He bounced and did somersaults all around the group. He ran to Lucy and asked to fight with one of her celestial spirits, which she yelled the reality of their situation to him. Too many sounds, way too loud. Superhuman hearing should have a switch to it.
"Can you shut up?!" Laura yelled, gritting her teeth. Thankfully, everyone did. She took a deep breath at the relief of her head pounding less. She enjoyed this for a few more seconds before Gray spoke, but nothing too unbearable of a volume.
"We gotta figure out how to stop this thing. And there's obviously nothing here that'll help us do that." He said. Others started questioning how they could try stopping it.
Carla had a different idea. "There are no visible controls, the royal throne is empty, and the one presumed to be piloting it has been defeated. So perhaps instead we should ask 'Why is it still functioning the same as it was before?'"
"Do you think he might have put it on autopilot?" Gray asked.
Wendy began crying and shaking. Laura knew that pain. She didn't need to read minds to understand it. "Your home won't be destroyed. You can see your family after we stop Nirvana."
Wendy sniffled and the tears slowed. Reassurance. That would have been useful too.
Laura stood up, she paced around the tower. The large stone platform had pebbles and stones scattered everywhere. Plants had started to grow from the columns. She rubbed the back of her neck gently to help the headache. She kept her eyes looking down on the pathetic city but knew her allies watched curiously.
Wendy didn't pay attention to her. Instead, she came up with her own idea and ran off, Carla worriedly following. She hurried down the steps inside of the hollow column that got them to the tower. Down…
Deep breaths. She cleared her head. She stopped walking and closed her eyes. Silence took over the city. No sound but low rumbling separated between each of Nirvana's steps. Listening, something else could be heard below them.
Laura opened her eyes and turned to the wizards, trying to ignore the eyes that stared at her.
"Did we beat everyone in Oracion Seis?"
"No. We have yet to find Midnight." Jura confirmed.
She thought some more, recalling what Brain said before falling unconscious, "Brain needs Midnight for something. What if he's the reason Nirvana is still running?"
"That would be correct." A disembodied voice echoed in her head. Everyone else heard it too. The voice sounded familiar… Hoteye.
"Did you defeat Midnight, Richard?" Jura asked. Laura had missed something here…
"I tried my best, but it seems that my magic simply wasn't strong enough to trump his." Hoteye, now going by Richard, said, "Do not concern yourself with my rescue. You must work together to bring Midnight down for good."
"You said I was right about something," Laura said.
"Defeating Midnight will render Nirvana's source of magic power dry. He's directly below you. Just outside the royal throne. His power is not one to be underestimated. Please, be cautious, my friends!"
"Same to you, Richard," Jura said before Richard's voice cut out. A strange interaction, but Nirvana can change "bad" to "good" and the other way around. Hoteye must have been between the two sides to be converted to "good".
Wizards ran past her. Natsu took the lead down the stairs and the group followed. They entered the dark tower that stained their noses with the worst smell of stone and paint that's been rotting away for years.
Natsu ran faster as they approached two identical doors with a red and gold frame and angry tribal faces. He jumped up and continuously spun and kicked the door open -Attempted too. Then she took the handles and pulled the doors open with a bright light on the other side.
"Everybody get down!" Jura shouted just before a large explosion sent everyone to the ground. The room became dark and contaminated the air with dirt, but they could still breathe. Doing a headcount, one person was missing. Laura could still hear Jura, but she couldn't find him. The room seemed much smaller and the ceiling smoother and closer to their heads.
Natsu punched his way through the ceiling and popped his head through the hole. Gray, Lucy, and Laura did the same. The room hadn't shrunk. In front of them stood Jura, using his earth magic to create a hard rock dome around them. Laura should have done the same, but it happened too quickly.
Jura's pillars dispersed into dust. The floor had been demolished and a gaping hole showed the city on the other side of the wall.
The man lost his energy. He gave it up for them. He fell to the cracked stone with a thud, the others crying out their own woes for his defeat, but Laura stood there in silence.
They jumped out of the dome and rushed to his side. Laura stayed a statue and listened to their heartbeats skyrocket. She had enough.
"He'll live." She convinced, "He'll get help and he'll be fine."
Lucy looked at her with an angry expression, but a pained voice, "How can you be so sure?"
Convincing and stating are different, but a raspy voice echoed in the dust surrounding them before Laura could say anything.
"Ridiculous." It said, "Brain is such a fool. He used the last of his power to lay his trap, yet only one of you fell in his snare."
Dirt still filled the air. Happy found a figure in it all. His face glowed a pale green that made the group flinch. He revealed himself to be Brain's cane. A self-aware, talking, cane.
It rose above the ground, floating. It laughed maliciously with its skeleton head and the glass sphere in its mouth jittered as the jaw moved up and down. What was the most surprising was Natsu grabbing the stick and whacking it on the ground, complaining about the annoying laughter.
The cane became fed up and floated away to the ledge of the floor they were on. It looked out to the city as it spoke, "It won't be long until their wretched guild is in our sights. Then we can begin to finally cleanse this world of refuse." Caitshelter. "They're the only ones with the power to seal Nirvana once more, therefore, any of its bloodlines must end."
No one spoke, though Laura could hear Natsu's rage, then she could feel his flames. With a warcry, he charged at the cane and threw punches at it, but it kept dodging. Gray joined in the fight. Meanwhile, Lucy and Laura watched on the side with Happy. Laura stiffened when the cane started using magic to electrocute the boys.
She would have cast a spell if it didn't freeze. The cane could see something the wizards couldn't.
"No… This can not be! They all have fallen!" The cane lamented, "The six demons have been defeated!"
So Midnight had been stopped.
The glass ball fell from the cane's jaws. Fear filled it as it cried about "The Great One." It shivered and sweated despite being a skull on a stick.
"It's Brain…"
"The old bald bruiser already put that creep on the ground." Natsu casually reminded. Laura had learned to believe otherwise.
"I know that, but what you don't know is that there's another personality lurking inside him. There's a hidden face that craves only destruction. They call him Zero." The cane explained.
Crazed laughter broke out. It bounced into the walls and back. Lucy, Gray, Natsu, and Happy turned around. Laura grinned and showed her teeth. Her wild eyes couldn't hold back the memories.
"You think Brain didn't crave destruction before? Ha!" She gasped for air between phrases, "He's always been like that! He might have split his personalities but they were always there! I'm starting to think I know him better than anyone in this whole mess."
Within an instant, her face twisted into a harsh scowl and blood vessels strained on her forehead. She leaned forward as she thrust her arms out and her laughter crystalized into spikes. They zipped passed Fairy Tail and to the cane. They missed the slim target and were aimed at someone behind it instead. The spikes that would have pierced their heart were deflected by a wave of their hand.
She stared at him with malice. His red eyes burned into hers.
"Master Zero! I humbly welcome your return!" The cane bent and fell to the floor, bowing to the man. It didn't fear Brain but Zero instead. They were the same, but they weren't.
On Zero's command, the cane retreated to the corner while he threw off his cloak, showing a muscular pale top and messier iron-gray hair. Laura remained put.
Zero glowed green with magic. He decided to change his clothes with this magic. A new outfit formed around him.
"You scum. You've done an admirable job in destroying my guild, but as its master, I am bound by duty to take revenge."
Natsu and Gray joked about taking him down. They were foolish.
"I'll start with the bald one that harmed this body while Brain was in control of it." Zero then formed a large, green, glowing orb in his hands and cast it at Jura. Gray used his ice magic to block the attack.
"You'd really attack somebody who's not even able to move? You're a coward!" He yelled.
No. No coward. She would have done the same. You want a threat gone, take it down before it can do the same to you. Honor and pride caused people to do dumb things. Society may look down on you, but at least you got to live through another day.
Gray's ice shield shattered and Zero's magic threw him and Jura across the room. On instinct, Laura shouted and sent that shout to where they would land. She kept it there and kept it strong enough to cushion their fall. She stopped and they hit the ground with a more livable thump.
In fury, Natsu jumped at Zero, but a simple poke in Salamander's chest sent him flying into the wall. Lucy stood there, frightened.
Zero grinned devilishly and raised his fist. Stretching his hand out, he sent a powerful blast of light and energy at Lucy and Happy. Laura took their screams and solidified it around them to create a dome. Her ears started to bleed again. She got caught in the spell and flew into the wall, getting half-buried in rock.
"Well done, Master Zero! Very well done!" The cane fearfully praised, "One wave of your hand and those rapscallions were sent six feet under!"
"Not quite the decisive blow that was needed. These vermin are still clearly breathing down there. So it wasn't enough. I WON'T BE FINISHED UNTIL THEY'RE RIPPED TO SHREDS!!!"
If he tried that, Laura still remained conscious enough to block another spell. She watched him walk away instead. He went upstairs to watch Caitshelter's approach so he could destroy it. She was still alive, still breathing. If she could just get up-
Laura tried pushing herself up, but that took away too much energy and left her sleeping under a pile of rocks.
_
"I know how to stop Nirvana."
Muffled words smudged together. Slipping in and out of consciousness, only parts of the conversation came in.
"...hijacked my telepathy?!"
"I am Zero… allow me to commend you… destroy everything!"
"Previous subject?"
Subject. All coming in then slipping away. Darkness filled the cold room and wanted to take away these sounds.
"Destroying all lacrima at once… stop Nirvana… I'm here, destroying them simultaneously will be impossible!"
"...split up and head for all six spots."
The voices jumbled together and all sounded the same. They argued and discussed. Some could only make a whisper before slipping out for good. It hurt to get up. It hurt to keep listening.
"Laura." A voice, a very familiar voice, called to her, "Laura please get up." A pained voice that lost all hope. A young voice that lost its innocence before it knew the meaning of the word.
Other voices came. Ones that struggled to stay in the room, but they were loud enough to have names. First, Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Lucy Heartfilia, then Happy the annoying cat. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness just enough.
"M-My telepathy is about to cut out… I sent a map into your heads. I've numbered each lacrima." Hibiki. His voice made it through the thick walls of the room.
A light turned on in the room, sending energy through the building. "We'll pick a number and go to it."
A cracked stone room filled with light, this time a physical room. Fairy Tail wizards surrounded her. They were all beat and had to work to stand, but they were alive.
"I pick one." Laura said.
"I'm taking that one too." Natsu added. Dragon slayers did have acute senses of smell.
Gray claimed the second lacrima, Lucy claimed the third, Ichiya: the fourth, and Erza took the fifth. Cobra's poison hadn't killed her, thankfully.
"That leaves me with-" Something cut off the stranger's voice. It had to be a wizard in the alliance, but no faces matched. Natsu freaked out about it, but Erza brushed it off and gave the voice the sixth lacrima.
Everyone left it at that and split ways, Laura right behind Natsu down one of six long and dark tunnels. The roofs stretched tall and the walkway had been squeezed smaller, but still enough room for them to walk side-by-side.
Laura practiced her breathing. Her headache had left by now but she would need to mentally prepare herself. And emotionally.
"Are you okay back there?" Natsu asked as an ally in war more than a friend, which would be appropriate.
"I can take a beating."
"Good. But he'll be out before he hurts any of us."
A pause before she responded, "He's more powerful than you think."
Natsu stopped walking and so did she. Her heart raced with uncertainty of the sudden change in atmosphere. Good or bad, she couldn't tell. Though she had trouble differentiating the two.
He turned and looked at her with a wide smile that showed his dragon fangs. At first, he looked like the child he always acted to be, but something about his tone said otherwise.
"I've never lost a fight protecting my friends. No way is that geezer breaking my streak."
Those two sentences froze her. He kept walking, but she stood there, speechless. How much of an idiot this man- this boy could be for thinking friends gave any power. They aided you in war, but they weren't currently around. He had to fight with someone that could barely be called an acquaintance.
Then, the words sank in. Laura didn't fully understand, but she's felt his emotions before. Afterall, she would give up her life to protect her last loved one.
A/N: Hewwo! I hope everyone is doing well during this chaos. Stay safe!